Ghosted

Legs and Potato Chips

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Frank shrieked at Mikey and Gerard, who spun around instantly.

Frank had walked in on Mikey feeding Gerard. Understandable sure, but there was one thing wrong with that: Mikey had sworn that there was so little food, including no chips, when there appeared to be a very large abundance of food right in front of him, including a rather full looking bag of chips.

"Frankie..." Mikey shook his head, as though begging him not to explode over this as he knew he would.

Sure enough, Frank only screamed even louder. "WE FUCKING TRUSTED YOU AND YOU'VE BEEN GOING BEHIND OUR BACKS AND FEEDING HIM!"

"GERARD NEEDS THE FOOD MORE THAN YOU DO!" Mikey shrieked back.

"Oh what the fuck are you two on about now?" Ray wandered over to them, his expression one of exasperation.

"THIS LITTLE PRICK HAS BEEN FUCKING LYING TO US THIS WHOLE TIME! WE STILL HAD PLENTY OF FOOD, BUT HE'D RATHER HAVE US ALL STARVE TO DEATH THAN RISK HIS BROTHER!" Frank loudly explained.

"YOU FUCKING MORON, IF I WAS DOING THIS FOR SELFISH REASONS, I WOULD BE EATING THE FOOD MYSELF, NOT FEEDING IT TO GEE!" Mikey barked back.

"OH RIGHT SO ONCE AGAIN, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE LEAD SINGER! HE GETS ALL THE PERKS HUH?" Frank yelled.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? IT'S NEVER BEEN FUCKING LIKE THAT! AND WHY ARE YOU AVOIDING USING HIS NAME? OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THIS IS YOUR BEST FUCKING FRIEND OF TEN FUCKING YEARS YOU'RE REFERRING TO?" Mikey spat.

Frank froze for a moment before screaming back, "WE WERE ALL BEST FRIENDS! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE PLAYING FAVORITES HERE, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PEOPLE YOU ONCE CALLED BROTHERS! WE WOULD HAVE NEVER DEPRIVED YOU OR HIM OF FOOD, WE WOULD HAVE SHA - "

"GERARD IS DYING!" Mikey interrupted him. He said it in a rather desperate tone, and his eyes were rimmed with tears. His hands were balled into fists, and his entire being was shaking. It had taken all of his strength to say it, but it was Mikey's final plea. His brother and best friend since the day he was born was dying, and Mikey was ready to do anything to save him.

For the fact was, Gerard had always taken care of Mikey. Even as children, Gerard would often be Mikey's guidance and protector. Their parents would be gone off to work for most days, and Gerard would always take it upon himself to buy the groceries and cook the meals that Mikey wanted.

So now, when Gerard was sick and helpless, Mikey felt it was due time to return the favor. And if Gerard did not make it out of this alive, aside from the agony of having lost his brother, Mikey would feel as though he had failed the one person who had never failed him. He just could not let that happen.

"Mikey." Ray stepped in, trying to approach the argument with a calm tone, "I know you want to save Gerard, okay? We all do. But... we can never help him if we're dying ourselves. There's no point in putting us all in danger. I mean, Gerard's barely even eating to begin with."

"I think... if I push him anymore... maybe he'll..." Mikey muttered, looking down at his brother, who again seemed unaware of his surroundings.

"No, he won't Mikey." Ray sighed. "Gerard's slipping, and none of us are strong enough to care for him right now. We need that food Mikes. I mean, look at us, we're just at each other's throats all the time because we're cold and we're hungry. How can we care for a dying man if we can't even take the time to stop fucking arguing for once?"

Mikey just shook his head, looking as though he might cry again. Feeling unsympathetic, Frank glared at him and looked as though he wanted to argue further, but Ray stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder and pulling him back.

Meanwhile, Mikey went to sit by Gerard's side, taking him into his arms. He said nothing, but only held him there, and stared at him as though he were in thought.

"C'mon Frank, lets go." Ray nudged Frank.

"But – " Frank was about to protest but Ray only nudged him harder.

"Lets go, I said." Ray growled.

Frank and Ray moved to go back to their post, but not before Frank snatched the bag of chips from Gerard's side. Ray rolled his eyes and led them back to the mouth of the cavern.

As Ray and Frank sat outside, they ate the potato chips hungrily. Their bellies a bit more filled, their moods and motivations increased a bit more. They talked and even joked around slightly. They did a bit of naming shapes of clouds, which had become a hobby of theirs since they arrived here, as well as tic tac toe in the sand.

It was almost time for Ray to call for a shift change, when suddenly he heard Mikey calling them from within the cavern. Ray and Frank looked at each other with slight hesitation, and shrugged.

They arrived to a distressed looking Mikey, who still had Gerard grasped in his arms. He was looking at the leg that Gerard had injured. Mikey lifted his gaze to Ray and Frank before saying, "It's completely black."

Ray and Frank bent down to see that Gerard's leg had now indeed turned a very menacing looking shade of black.

"It's necrotic." Ray frowned after a moment of observation. "I suspected that it might come to this, but I kind of didn't want to mention it unless I was sure."

"Sure of what?" Mikey squeaked out, his anxiety rising.

"I don't know how else to say this." Ray sighed, "...If you really want to save Gerard, we have to remove his leg."

"No." was Mikey's immediate reaction. "No, you can't do that. How will he ever preform again?"

Frank scoffed at that, "He doesn't give a shit if the rest of us starve, but he cares about whether or not Gerard can do another show."

Ray smacked him on the shoulder and then turned back to Mikey.

"Mikey, this is a bacterial infection of the soft tissues. Its literally eating him alive. If we don't cut his leg off now to stop the spread, he might have to lose more than just his leg later. That is, if we're fast enough to catch it before it kills him completely. We can't wait anymore, Mikes. We have to do this. Now."

Mikey seemed unwilling. He gripped Gerard tightly, and then finally nodded his head.